Another pretty late post! Been fairly busy for the last few weeks, but made the time to get away to Dartmoor over the weekend of the 29th of November.
It was a very cold start on the saturday, with the ground covered in frost. We desided to go to the Dewerstone, which is sheltered, it was much warmer at the base of the crag then elswhere. The routes here are generally multipitch, either two or three short pitches. Was great to get more practise at leading. First route turned into a mini epic. I was to lead the second pitch, but while belaying on the first I couldn't hear or see my leader. Was hard to tell when they were safe and when I could take them off belay. Ended up having to wrestle the belay device off a pretty tight rope, and somehow I managed to drop the it. Didn't realise until I got to the belay and only had the krab clipped to my harness. We desided that the thing to do was for me to climb to the top, set up an anchor, get safe and then untie and decend, get the device, and then climb back up the decent route. All this took time, especailly as all the best anchor points were taken by people we hadn't seen before climbing on either side of us. Finally I managed to get into postion and belayed my partner up to me. As it turned out another pair had had to wait for ages too as their belay site was the same as ours.
After this we did Needle Arete which was a very cool route. I led the second pitch and set up a hanging belay. This route was further up the valley and was very exposed. My hands were freezing and I could feel nothing but pain as I seconded the final pitch. By this point it was much later then we realised. We went to get lunch, but as we were eating realised it was nealy 4pm, the time when it started to get dark and we were supposed to be picking up some people who had desided to spend the day bouldering.
Our campsite was behind a pub, and we went here for a welcome dinner and a few pints after which we played a variation of Killer Darts.
The next day we got up later then planned and headed to Hound Tor. The forcast was for rain or snow, but it wa dry and fairly sunny all day. It was freezing in the wind though, and after doing Suspension Flake with Aeron I joined everyone else on the sheltered side.
Was a very cool day, had a go at top roping Aerobic Wall (E2) and it didn't go to badly! Might try leading that one at some point in the future. Also watched Mark climb Limbo Dancer (E4) which was incredible. The crux is unprotected, so lots of bouldering mats and spotters were needed.
All in all was a great weekend, and very much looking forward to doing more trad next term!
As for indoor, came very close to getting my first 7A last week, I'm sure I could get it in a few more sessions when I'm back in Oxford after christmas.
Last tuesday I went to the Climbing Acadamy, the new bouldering centre thats opened in Bristol. It was very cool, looking forward to going again once I get back from Sheffield this weekend!
